Towards a Better Bench

 

This post is about a couple of wonderful gifts that have wound up on my tackbench, and both of them promise to enhance it.

First off I want to thank an old friend for an extraordinary present.   I somehow let slip I'd used up nearly all the linen thread she had gifted me with back in 2019.  Honestly, all I did was mention I needed to go shopping for the stuff,... it can be bought, it's affordable!   Here's what I started with then, enough to get hooked on and make several years' worth of tack (below).  I made a wooden spool from a thick dowel and thought the matter closed.

I just loved this thread.  Of a glorious polished smoothness, friendly to the touch, and a perfect ivory color just right for braidwork, it had natural, almost handmade irregularities to its gauge.  It was quite tough and withstood the heavy use and constant pulling in and out of my braiding far better than cotton threads.  I used it carefully, at first only in a few buttons, saving every inch I could.  

I used it in the L2 and L3 Hackamores.  I may have used it for the stitching on the Goehring, and I may have used it for my first orange bosal in the fall of 2022 and for its consequent Carrizozo's Hackamore.  I definitely used it in Dry's Orange Hackamore.  I used it in one of the nosebuttons for my next book, and that was a mistake:  the thread was thicker than my standard, and threw off my measurements.  It made a liar out of my earlier chapters on exactly which thread I'd used for the 8 pieces I was profiling.  I decided to merely mention it in the book.  The half-finished nosebutton will go on to another fate,... as of this writing, a future trade. 

But imagine my surprise when I received a totally unexpected small fat package from Sue Rowe!  I couldn't figure what might be inside.  Sue has sent me unheralded gifts, usually uplifting postcards.  But this!?  When I saw what it was, I almost cried.  There was enough to supply even the heartiest braider for years.  I spent a happy time rewinding it onto my original dowel.

Thank you, dear Sue Rowe.  This is a gift from the heart.  

Another recent gift, just 2 days ago, was one of the prizes for judging at Michelle Sepiol's Tioga County Model Horse Show.  (What a show!  Enlightening, fun, exhausting, inspiring!)  It was a large mug, larger than any I'd seen.  It occurred to me it would serve beautifully as a tool holder.   After a couple happy hours on Sunday reorganizing and cleaning my tack bench, Hooray!  I'd gained a few inches more of precious space, and was down to 2 tool holders instead of 3.   Such reorganizing hasn't happened in decades.

New mug holding leather stamps (center).

This is a lifetime collection, many of the leather stamps being inherited from my mother.  I'd never been able to have them all in one place before.

Short tools in the mug, tall ones in the cup to the right:  Paintbrushes, feathers for dusting, files, dental picks (in back), and metal tubing are all in there.  Apologies for the dirty-looking water in the glass rinse jar.  It is replaced with fresh for any new projects!

Stone foal for scale.   Her Jaapi halter has been adapted by me to her small size.  First time I've ever done that, and it was challenging to open those little metal crimps without breaking them.  I did it by first very carefully pressing on the sides with pliers -- just 'til it opened a tiny bit -- and then gently widening the crimp over a blunt awl.  To close, I glued down the ribbon first.  Throatlatch, jaw and finally nose strap were shortened. 

Here's a final view from higher up, giving some perspective.

Why do I reorganize the tack bench now, when my family is about to leave on a trip for a number of weeks?  Is this not exquisite torture, when I have pieces to clean and restore (a parade set and some harnesses), balanced against the braidwork for the book, at the moment 2 bosals and then 2 more complete hackamores?  None of which can be done while on the road.  Believe me I have tried--!  I will be lucky to put in a few hours on something simple like a mecate!  Perhaps there might be more than a day right before the trip launch when, everything cleared off and ready, there can be pure tack-work time.  But such a thing is not guaranteed.

Hope does spring eternal, but I honestly think the restorations will only get done in November and December.   As ever, thank you for your patience.  It is so greatly appreciated.